The Ska Fathers

Lloyd Knibb says he opened a newspaper recently and discovered that he and his bandmates in the Skatalites have 700 grandchildren living in the United States.

The Skatalites were prolific during their brief initial run in the mid-1960s, but the Jamaican band’s vast progeny was begotten through sonic, not biological, means. Ska music originated with the Skatalites, circa 1963-64, and now ska is everywhere.

“We have about 700 ska bands in the United States all over, it came out in the paper. We are the fathers of all those,” Knibb, 67, said last week from Austin, Texas, a stop on a tour that brings the Skatalites to the Showcase Theatre in Corona on Friday and the House of Blues on Monday.

As the Skatalites’ drummer, Knibb was fundamental in creating the lively ca-CHINK, ca-CHINK rhythm that is ska’s signature. Ska became the launching pad for Jamaica’s influential music scene. The Wailers, featuring Bob Marley, and the Maytals, fronted by Toots Hibbert, were among the future reggae stars backed by the Skatalites on early recording sessions.

Ska got its second birth in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, heyday of the English “2-Tone” movement that fused ska rhythms with punk rock propulsion. Americans inspired by the 2-Tone bands took up the signature beat by 1983.

After a long incubation as a cult phenomenon, ska surged into the commercial mainstream in the mid-1990s. No Doubt, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish all sprang from ska foundations to pop success, and many others, including Sublime, the Offspring and Rancid, adopted the ska beat for occasional use.

Most fans hopping to American “Third Wave” ska probably have no idea who the Skatalites are. But enough have searched for the music’s roots to discover the founding fathers. Renewed interest has enabled the Skatalites to release four albums since 1993, with a lineup incorporating a core of four or five of the nine original players. The newly released “Ball of Fire” features Knibb, bassist Lloyd Brevett and saxophonists Roland Alphonso and Lester “Ska” Sterling from the first-edition band.

Knibb doesn’t muster much enthusiasm for ska’s young hit-makers. Asked what he thought of No Doubt, the Bosstones, et al., he answered with a sigh of strained tolerance. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. [They’re] all right. They’re trying their best. They call it ska, but it’s not ska, really. They’re playing like the English guys. We play the true ska.”

Among younger inheritors, Knibb singles out a Japanese band, the Ska Flames, for its mastery of authentic early ska rhythms. “That band patterned me well,” he said.

The Skatalites coalesced from a group of experienced session men active in Kingston studios in the early 1960s. They recorded and played dance concerts in Jamaica under the name Skatalites for just a year and a half during 1964-65.

Knibb was a jazz musician who played blues, Latin jazz and big band styles. He says the ska rhythm was cooked up in the studio in response to producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s request for a new beat that he could use as one of the island’s proprietors of “sound systems”--mobile disc jockey operations catering to dance music fans.

Besides playing the dance and hotel circuit, Knibb and some of the others who became Skatalites liked to hang out at a rural encampment where Rastafarians gathered. There he took part in drumming sessions playing hypnotic, indigenous-Jamaican beats that he says rubbed off on ska.

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Knibb and bassist Brevett said the ska rhythm got its name during a recording session.

“The guitar player was playing straight, and Ska Sterling, the alto player, he tell the guitar: ‘Just play ska-ska-ska-ska guitar,’ ” Brevett said in a separate interview. “Everybody laughed, and named the music ska.”

Brevett thinks that “ska-ska-ska” was just a way of putting in words the scratchy, staccato rhythm demanded of ska guitarists. But Knibb says the term “ska” was circulating thanks to Cluett Johnson, a musician from the same musical circles that produced the Skatalites. “Cluett Johnson always came to you and said, ‘Oh, Skavoovee, what’s up, Skavoovee?’ [as a greeting]. He brought that word in there.”

The Skatalites’ repertoire was mostly instrumental, although on stage and on some recordings they were joined by guest singers, including Doreen Shaffer, who is part of the current tour. The original ska rhythm--played much more deliberately than in 2-Tone or Third Wave styles--supported hot, jazz-influenced soloing from the horn section of Alphonso, Sterling and group leader Tommy McCook on saxes, trumpeter Johnny Moore and Don Drummond on trombone.

Drummond was the Skatalites’ leading composer, despite suffering from mental illness.

“His mind goes and comes. From youth, Don is a slightly damaged guy. I don’t know what caused it, really,” Knibb said. Knibb would escort Drummond to and from sessions or shows, picking him up and dropping him off at the mental institution where he lived for part of his Skatalites tenure. Knibb says the trombone player’s mental troubles didn’t impair his ability to function in the band.

“Don never sit down talking to no one. He talked musically. When you go to Don’s house, him just practicing his trombone and writing music, but him not talk. He compose five or six tunes a week. He was a nice quiet guy, don’t make no trouble.”

Drummond’s musical career ended in 1965 when he stabbed his girlfriend, a professional dancer, to death. Knibb says Drummond didn’t take his medication that night and became enraged when she returned late after performing with a band. Drummond was institutionalized until his death of leukemia in 1969.

The Skatalites didn’t last long after they lost Drummond. Knibb and Brevett said McCook and Alphonso, the primary soloists, weren’t getting along, which led to the band’s split. The Skatalites re-formed in 1983-84 to perform at Reggae Sunsplash festivals in Jamaica and England. In 1986, the band relocated to the New York City area and has been performing ever since. McCook played in the reunited Skatalites until recently, when poor health forced him to step down.

One consequence of playing for a young generation of fans--Knibb estimates that the predominant age range at Skatalites shows these days is 16 to 22--is that the band has pushed its signature beat to a faster tempo than is heard on “Foundation Ska,” a two-disc compilation of tracks from the mid-’60s. “Ball of Fire” reprises ‘60s-vintage numbers, with the speed stepped up and the arrangements loosened to leave room for extended jazz soloing by the horns and guitar players.

“The younger people like it fast,” Knibb said. “We noticed that when we play it slow, like we did in Jamaica, they stand and look.”

To Brevett, the essence of Skatalites ska is not just its lively rhythm and accomplished technique, but a spirituality that informs the playing.

“The source of the music, how Don Drummond blow his sound, it is religious,” the bassist said. “Religious music is the sweetest music to dance to.”

* The Skatalites and Unsteady, Mobtown and Allentons perform Friday at the Showcase Theatre, 683 S. Main St., Corona. 8 p.m. $12. (909) 340-0988 (club) or (909) 276-7770 (taped information). Also Monday at the House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 7 p.m. $15. (213) 848-5100.